Birds of a Feather
by Dropkicking Bullet Shells
Summary: It was New York City. Glenn ran there believing that if he could make it there, he could make it anywhere. Daryl/Glenn AU


**A/N-** This is for **writerchick0214** and **MinuteCloser2Failing**. :D

**Plot-** It was New York City. Glenn ran there believing that if he could make it there, he could make it anywhere. Daryl/Glenn AU

**Disclaimer-** I do not own The Walking Dead, only the occasional OC that may or may not show up.

**Warnings-** Intense violence, Character death, drug and alcohol abuse, mentions of child and domestic abuse of all natures, adult themes, coarse language, etc.

**Pairings-** Daryl/Glenn ; Min. Carl/Sophia ; + others

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"To find yourself, think for yourself."  
_Socrates_

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**Birds of a Feather-**

Sophia was an ambitious little girl, doing great things and dreaming of even greater. She inspired magnificent things just as she aspired for them. She was graceful and small and hopeful. Her father's aim was to take that away from her but as she was eager, she was resilient. No one could take her wish away.

Sophia wanted to be a star on Broadway. Her father told her she was ridiculous, his evil, ugly snarl aiming to bleed into her and taint her to climbing for only the obtainable, to clip her wings and cast her down to walk with those dubbed normal. Her mother was sheepish and shy and even she shook her head and smiled when Sophia spoke of her dream. She told her she would grow out of it, that she would soon find something better, more reasonable.

Sophia was not a reasonable girl. When she found no nearby encouragement she branched out to teachers and peers and she found herself a boy who told her she could touch the stars. His support animated her into a hungry child, craving the day she would accomplish her heart's desire.

Sophia longed for the spotlight and for the love of a crowded room as she took the reigns of a stage worthy of her presence. Carl told her she would get it all one day. He was the only one.

Sophia took her friend's hand one day, after her father had been brutal and her mother had shrunken in on herself in fear, she told Carl to leave with her. Away from their parents, away from school, away from the pressure of being someone else. To New York City, where dreams came true.

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Glenn was so sick of his daily cycle. It was after his fourth year of college and his graduation that he really started to hate the dull routines. It was always the same; getting up, getting dressed, getting ready, getting to work, getting home, getting food, getting to bed, and he would tragically get up the next morning and begin it all again.

The lack of chaos wore Glenn down in ways he once thought he'd enjoy in the early days of his pubescent years. Time was at a creeping stand still in bumper to bumper traffic and at the same time it was slipping from his fingers in a grieves way worthy of mourning.

He left to New York City without telling his boss, or giving a two weeks notice. He had did it in a last minute decision that gave him goose bumps and chills. For the first time in his life Glenn was rebelling and it felt good.

Time Square was just as crowded, just as glorious, as Glenn had always pictured it. The lights, the sounds, the smells were exactly like the movies depicted them. Everything was dirty and messy, crowded and careless. It was a dog eat dog world and Glenn was absolutely thrilled.

Taxi cabs honked and the crowd parted like a sea as people more important or more rushed ran by. A line led to a mobile hot dog stand, some of the occupants getting impatient as business men talked on their phones too loud and tourists glanced down at brochures and maps that only promised to misdirect them. Children ran from their parents without a care in the world, foreigners glanced at all the adds like they had found themselves on Mars or Pluto.

The sky mirrored the vast layers of the city's character with a beautiful clear hue of blue. An army of pigeons made their homes in the air, gliding around like angels, or on the street, enjoying their camouflage as most everyone ignored them, save for the few bustling teenagers who were lost in their youth.

Glenn was left flabbergasted as he took it all in. He wasn't sure what to do with himself. He felt completely unworthy of being lost in a world where reality wasn't so, in the land of enchantment, of dreams.

He looked up at the buildings, towering high above him like warriors of God, reaching out towards the heavens in a stretch. Solid, tame structures held them together with a million of years of hard labor and good faith.

Glenn was almost blinded as he looked up to see all of the light, the adds and the utter confusion that came in mass. The sights took his breath away.

For Glenn's first month living in New York, things were perfect. He couldn't have wished for anything better. He was treated like a king by the employees at his hotel, by the people at the bar where he would sit down and tell stories, by the homeless men he would stop and give change. Then, one day, it all stopped.

Glenn found himself lost in New York City, without a place to stay, a place to go, a place to return to, a way to get home because without money the city was going to rip him apart.

Glenn ran his savings dry without realizing it. In any other situation he would have been cautious, but he wanted to be rebellious, and for his trouble he ended up on the streets with nowhere and no one.

It took Glenn two hours of crawling on the street and in the dingy alleys of the city to find enough change to use a pay phone. When he called home his father answered and after the first sentence passed Glenn's lips, a desperate plea for savior, the line went dead. His father did not answer the next time he called, or the time after that.

He figured it served him right, in a way. He did abandon his family in search of a thrill. Oh, how he had began to regret it.

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**A/N- **Short chapters for now, this is a bit of a prolouge, though... Who knows. *sigh*

This is my first real Daryl/Glenn story, and depending on my experience, I don't think it will be my last... I ship Rick/Daryl a bit more, which is what I usually write about, but hey, I thought I'd give Glenn a try... Inform me in later chapters if you find him OOC, I'd actually like to know since I can't quite get a fix on him... Maybe I've got it, but I don't know seeing as I've only done a couple paragraphs worth of work on him... hmm..

I hope you liked this and will leave me something that will tell me if I'm in the right area or not... 'cause... I have no idea! Thanks for reading!


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